Chesapeake Wealth Management Has $535,000 Holdings in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Chesapeake Wealth Management lessened its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 308 shares during the period. Chesapeake Wealth Management’s holdings in Aflac were worth $535,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $10,878,000. Beck Bode LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Beck Bode LLC now owns 143,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,857 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Aflac by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 21,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Aflac by 30.7% during the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 3,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in shares of Aflac by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 28,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,566,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.44% of the company’s stock.

Aflac Price Performance

AFL stock opened at $106.43 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $106.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $105.47. The company has a market capitalization of $59.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.00. Aflac Incorporated has a 52-week low of $75.07 and a 52-week high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.08 and a current ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. Aflac had a net margin of 22.02% and a return on equity of 16.34%. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.84 earnings per share. Aflac’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.26 EPS for the current year.

Aflac Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 19th. This is an increase from Aflac’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on AFL. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Aflac from $104.00 to $102.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $114.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $103.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Aflac from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $102.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aflac news, EVP Audrey B. Tillman sold 24,744 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.40, for a total value of $2,558,529.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 222,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,018,701.20. This trade represents a 10.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Aflac Profile

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.